After Hurricane Ike in 2008, when the amphibious assault ship Peleliu responded without a Marine landing force, the Navy and Corps stressed that the sea services are more useful in tandem, recalled Timothy Russell, deputy for future operations for U.S. Northern Command.

“Normally you think about Marine units as a more kinetic, operational force. And what is happening really I think over the last couple years is a recognition by the other services that that’s not all they do,” Russell told U-T San Diego. The ability to rapidly deploy from the sea, via self-supporting “lilypads,” with a rotary wing and the strong backs of its manpower: “That is a capability that is very challenging to mimic in any other service.”

Traditionally the Army has been a bigger player in stateside disaster relief. “The Army has been doing it for awhile because the Marines have been elsewhere,” Russell said. “Now there’s an opportunity for the Marines coming back here and the remarkable capability they have.”

During a natural disaster, San Diego County has some advantages. Unlike San Francisco or Manhattan, fallen bridges would not be as isolating (sorry Coronado.) Another plus: several huge military bases with their personnel and equipment.

“The great thing we have going for us in San Diego is the military assets we can leverage through this process,” said John Valencia, program manager for the city of San Diego Office of Homeland Security. Valencia, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine reserves, would be the local point man for the city overseeing the alphabet soup of responders.

As Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005 and the 2007 wildfires in San Diego County demonstrated, the chaotic aftermath of a natural disaster and the array of civilian and governmental agencies involved in emergency response make coordination a challenge.

Marine helicopters were delayed for days waiting for clearance to respond to the San Diego fires. At the time U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter criticized state fire officials for stalling them; state officials said the delay was the result of new procedures stemming from problems coordinating military air assets during the 2003 fires.

One goal of the Camp Pendleton exercise was to clarify the chain of command. Broadmeadow asked: who would order his Marines and sailors to respond on behalf of U.S. Northern Command? Headquarters Marine Corps? Pacific commanders overseeing the Camp Pendleton force?

In the first hours of a disaster, military installations such as Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Camp Pendleton have agreements with local authorities that permit them to immediately respond and help save lives.

Deployment of military operating forces farther afield is restricted by U.S. law, federal and state constitutions, and Pentagon policy. Obtaining clearance is more cumbersome.

Hurricane Sandy, the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history, was a chance to test a new streamlined “dual status” approach putting the National Guard commander in charge of troops answering to both federal and state authorities.

During a crisis in California, the Marines would fall in under that dual status commander, as they did for the northeastern tri-state area when three Navy ships were dispatched during Hurricane Sandy.